ed and said, "Wait. Unless I am very much mistaken we'll have a
fine favoring wind inside of two hours."

His prophecy was soon fulfilled too, for in a short time a damp
night-breeze sprang up out of the west. Up came the anchor, the sails
were set, and the _Josephine_ slid ghost-like down through the
narrows, around Sandy Hook and out into the open sea.

"We're off, String," exclaimed George Sanders joyously. The two boys
were standing near the forward hatchway looking out across the black
water. If Pop had known what awaited them perhaps he would not have been
quite so light hearted.

CHAPTER IV

A CODE

The breeze held strongly and the _Josephine_ made splendid
progress. The life on shipboard had endless attractions for the four
young boys. They learned the parts of the ship, the names of the sails
and how to navigate. Sailors taught them to splice ropes and how to tie
the hundred and one knots familiar to those who follow the sea. The
weather was ideal and as everything went well, all on board were in
excellent spirits.

"I guess Sam was wrong about this hard luck business," remarked John
Clemens one day to Grant Jones. The two boys were standing near the bow
of the brig, watching two of Mother Carey's chickens, those friendly
little birds that follow and play around boats even out in the middle of
the ocean.

"It certainly looks so, String," said Grant. "We can't hold much against
the Finn so far, can we?"

"I should say not. Let's hope it keeps up."

"I don't see how it can," said Grant. "So far it has been almost too
good to be true, and I don't see how it can last."

"I think it will though."

"Sam says not. He says that maybe we have escaped so far but he still
insists we're going to have something happen to us before we're
through."

"He's cheerful, isn't he?" laughed John. "I'm not worrying though."

"Mr. Johnson says that we're almost bound to strike bad weather when we
get into the gulf-stream."

"Why's that?"

"I don't know except for what he said. He says that sometimes you can
see the low banks of clouds over the gulf-stream and that you may run
from a clear sky and light wind, with all sail, into a heavy sea and
cloudy sky where you'll need double reefs."

"Isn't that queer," exclaimed John. "I wonder when we'll reach it."

"Fairly soon, I should say," said Grant. "We must be getting pretty far
south by now."

"We are. Captain Dodge told me we'd be in the West Indies bef